1246.0 - Education Variables, June 2014

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 26/06/2014

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CLASSIFICATION AND CODING

THE CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA

Relevant categories from the Level of Education and Field of Education components of the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED) are used when collecting, aggregating and disseminating data relating to the variables 'Level of highest non-school qualification' and 'Main field of highest non-school qualification'.

'Year non-school qualification completed' uses the time unit 'year'.

THE STANDARD CLASSIFICATION

For details of the ASCED classification, code structure and coding procedures, see the 'Education Standard Variables Guide' or the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0) on the ABS website.

'Year non-school qualification completed' has a flat classification, where responses are stored as four-digit calendar years or single digit codes.

THE CODE STRUCTURE

Level of highest non-school qualification

Broad levels 1-5 of the Level of Education component of ASCED are relevant for 'Level of highest non-school qualification'. The relationship between the Level of Education categories is ordinal. For information on which ASCED codes are valid for this variable see the 'Education Standard Variables Guide'.

Broad levels 1-5 of the ASCED Level of Education, contain exhaustive categories at the Broad and Narrow Levels. Therefore no residual categories apply to this variable.

Supplementary codes are used to process inadequately described responses. The codes are:

Not further defined (n.f.d.) codes - used to process responses which cannot be coded to the Detailed Levels of the classification but can be coded to a higher level of the classification structure. N.f.d. codes are three digit codes ending in one or two zeroes.
Inadequately described codes - used to process responses that do not provide sufficient information to be coded to any level of the classification structure, including where a respondent has indicated that they have a non-school qualification but have not provided any information on the level of their non-school qualification. 'Inadequately described' codes commence with a zero.
Not applicable codes - used when the respondent reports not having a non-school qualification.
Not stated codes - used when the respondent does not report whether they have a non-school qualification.
Other supplementary codes may be defined by users to facilitate the processing and storage of data, when data sets coded to ASCED contain records for entities outside the scope of ASCED.

Main field of highest non-school qualification

All ASCED Field of Education codes are valid for 'Main field of highest non-school qualification', except for 120101 General Primary and Secondary Education Programmes. A full list of ASCED Field of Education codes is provided in the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0).

ASCED Field of Education contains residual categories within Broad and Narrow Fields. In Narrow Fields, residual (or 'Other') categories consist of the Broad Field code followed by '99'. At the Detailed Field level, residual (or 'not elsewhere classified' (n.e.c.)) categories consist of the four digits of the Narrow Field followed by the digits '99'. Residual categories are not required for Broad and Narrow Fields where the Narrow or Detailed Fields contained within are exhaustive.

Supplementary codes are used to process inadequately described responses. The codes are:

Not further defined (n.f.d.) codes - used to code responses which cannot be coded to the Detailed Fields of the classification but can be coded to a higher level of the classification structure. N.f.d. codes are six digit codes ending in two or four zeroes.
Inadequately described codes - used to process responses which do not provide enough information to be coded to a particular Field of Education, including where a respondent has indicated that they have a non-school qualification but have not provided any information on the field of their non-school qualification. 'Inadequately described' codes commence with two or more a zeroes.
Not applicable codes - used when the respondent reports not having a non-school qualification.
Not stated codes - used when the respondent does not report whether they have a non-school qualification.

Year non-school qualification completed

Those years applicable to the standard question, prior to and including the survey collection year, are conceptually included in the classification for 'Year non-school qualification completed'. For single years, where the cut-off date ('Prior to 1990') is used, responses for this are coded to 1989. When individual years are not collected the codes 1 and 2 are used to output the two categories:

1. Completed before 1998
2. Completed 1998 or later

There are no residual categories for this variable.

The only standard supplementary code for this variable is the not applicable code. It is used when the respondent reports not having a non-school qualification. The not applicable code is 0000 or 0.

SCOPE OF THE VARIABLE

'Level of highest non-school qualification', 'Main field of highest non-school qualification' and 'Year non-school qualification completed' apply to all people who have completed a non-school qualification.

In ABS collections information on 'Highest non-school qualification' is generally only collected for people aged 15 years and over.

APPLICATION OF THE CLASSIFICATION TO OTHER VARIABLES

ASCED Level of Education

In addition to 'Level of highest non-school qualification', the ASCED Level of Education Classification can be used to classify a variety of variables such as 'Level of highest educational attainment' and 'Highest year of school completed'.

ASCED Field of Education

In addition to 'Main field of highest non-school qualification', the ASCED Field of Education Classification is used to classify variables such as 'Main field of highest educational attainment'. 'Main field of highest non-school qualification' is often preferred for output purposes because 'Main field of highest educational attainment' includes school attainments which are all coded to the category ‘Mixed Field Programmes’.

CODING PROCEDURES

It is recommended, and ABS collections are required, to use the supporting variable 'Main field of highest non-school qualification’ and 'Year non-school qualification completed' when processing 'Level of highest non-school qualification'.

During collection, the level and the field of the highest non-school qualification are captured as text fields. Post collection, these text fields are processed through the computer assisted coder which assigns the appropriate ASCED code for the level and the field of the qualification. The field of highest non-school qualification is processed through the Coder first, as this is used in some cases to help determine the correct level of the non-school qualification.

The coding index contains a comprehensive list of the most likely responses to questions relating to level and field of education. Typically about 70% of responses are able to be coded automatically by the coder, the remainder are manually coded.

'Year non-school qualification completed' is used to accurately code qualifications at the Advanced Diploma/Diploma and Certificate Levels (see Editing Procedures).

CODING INDEXES

The ASCED Coder is a Windows-based structured coding system that is available on CD-ROM. It provides a quick and automated way to assign ASCED Level and Field of Education codes.

The ASCED Coder incorporates a detailed coding index (i.e. an extensive list of education titles) which enables coding to the detailed level of ASCED with a higher degree of accuracy and consistency than is possible when using just the classification structure and definitions.

The ASCED Coder currently assigns both the ASCED code and the Australian Bureau of Statistics Classification of Qualifications (ABSCQ) Level of Attainment code to survey and Census responses. The ABSCQ Level of Attainment code is used to more accurately derive Certificate levels. The ASCED Coder assigns codes according to strictly prescribed rules, most of which are incorporated into the Coder. For example, the variable 'Main field of highest non-school qualification’ is used within the Coder to more accurately code a qualification, e.g. if the respondent provides responses of Trade Certificate (for Level) and Plumbing (for Field) then the Coder can use this Field information to more accurately code the level to Certificate III.

The coding index is not contained within the ASCED publication (cat. no. 1272.0) but is a separate product, the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED) and Coder, 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0.30.001).

For further information on coding procedures contact the Standards and Classifications Section, Australian Bureau of Statistics via e-mail to standards@abs.gov.au.